Although an individual’s experiences may shape one’s positionality, it doesn’t determine positionality. My positionality does not necessarily align with the positionality stereotypes of those who identify in the same groups. My complex personal experiences and background all contribute to my positionality and how I view the world, but doesn’t definitively determine them. In this essay I will argue of all the factors that shape my positionality, the three that have impacted me and my positionality the most are my ethnicity and race, socioeconomic class in my community, and religious upbringing.
Often times, race and ethnicity is combined into one conforming definition, but they are separate aspects in the shaping of my positionality. Race is …show more content…
Ethnicity relates to the learned cultural behaviors celebrated throughout regions around the world. Ethnically, I identify as Native American. This isn’t because I favor my Native ancestry over my Italian and other European heritage. It’s the result of my location and availability to practice culture. Throughout my upbringing, I was exposed to the racial groups that I belong to, but the reason I primarily identify as a Native American is because of my residence in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a state that celebrates Native culture and it is publically practiced, and embraced. Because of the presence of Native heritage, I’m able to identify as Native in a public community outside of my family to practice culture. This doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of my Italian heritage, it’s simply that I don’t have the accessibility to channel my heritage in a community setting compared to that of my Native American heritage. This confliction is a defining aspect in some of the challenges I’ve faced and in the shaping of my positionality and how I view others. As the adolescence years are already challenging and confusing, determining ethnic identity throughout this time was psychologically confusing. Gibbs (1989) suggests that the challenge for mixed-race adolescents is twofold. …show more content…
I was raised under the principles of the LDS religion. My upbringing as a Mormon has shaped my positionality in the way that it defies what’s expected. My upbringing in the Mormon faith instilled certain morals that I identify with, overall I don’t agree with the teachings. For example, as a child, I was taught that identifying as LGBTQ was immoral. This is a belief that I carried with me into my teenage years. As I became older, this became a belief of mine that I personally challenged. This first significant challenging of my beliefs has opened my positionality to be an open and adapting outlook on the world. This has shaped my positionality to recognize that the society we live in is ever changing and there are social norms adapting every day, so consequently my positionality will do the same. When expressing my opinions to my family members, it was hard to witness their immediate disapproval of my opinions. Although my family and I disagree on topics, we’ve learned to converse about these issues without compromising love for each other. This has affected my positionality in the aspect that I have an understanding that others may possess different views of the world from myself, but we can choose to converse about these topics with
Often times, race and ethnicity is combined into one conforming definition, but they are separate aspects in the shaping of my positionality. Race is …show more content…
Ethnicity relates to the learned cultural behaviors celebrated throughout regions around the world. Ethnically, I identify as Native American. This isn’t because I favor my Native ancestry over my Italian and other European heritage. It’s the result of my location and availability to practice culture. Throughout my upbringing, I was exposed to the racial groups that I belong to, but the reason I primarily identify as a Native American is because of my residence in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a state that celebrates Native culture and it is publically practiced, and embraced. Because of the presence of Native heritage, I’m able to identify as Native in a public community outside of my family to practice culture. This doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of my Italian heritage, it’s simply that I don’t have the accessibility to channel my heritage in a community setting compared to that of my Native American heritage. This confliction is a defining aspect in some of the challenges I’ve faced and in the shaping of my positionality and how I view others. As the adolescence years are already challenging and confusing, determining ethnic identity throughout this time was psychologically confusing. Gibbs (1989) suggests that the challenge for mixed-race adolescents is twofold. …show more content…
I was raised under the principles of the LDS religion. My upbringing as a Mormon has shaped my positionality in the way that it defies what’s expected. My upbringing in the Mormon faith instilled certain morals that I identify with, overall I don’t agree with the teachings. For example, as a child, I was taught that identifying as LGBTQ was immoral. This is a belief that I carried with me into my teenage years. As I became older, this became a belief of mine that I personally challenged. This first significant challenging of my beliefs has opened my positionality to be an open and adapting outlook on the world. This has shaped my positionality to recognize that the society we live in is ever changing and there are social norms adapting every day, so consequently my positionality will do the same. When expressing my opinions to my family members, it was hard to witness their immediate disapproval of my opinions. Although my family and I disagree on topics, we’ve learned to converse about these issues without compromising love for each other. This has affected my positionality in the aspect that I have an understanding that others may possess different views of the world from myself, but we can choose to converse about these topics with